Texas Tech University College of Education saw three of its graduate students win research awards at the 42nd annual meeting of Southwest Educational Research Association (SERA), and a college faculty member was named the association's president.
Shirley Matteson, an associate professor of middle level education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I), was named to the top post of the organization. She previously served as president from 2015 to 2016.
Ehsan Ghasemi, a student in the Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership (EP&L), won the SERA Bruce Thompson Outstanding Paper Award, which is SERA's top award.
The recipient is given the honor of presenting the winning paper at a special session of the American Educational Research Association's annual meeting and is also presented with a $1,000 stipend.
His paper was titled, "A Meta-Analysis of Gender Differences in Variance Ratio, Number of High-Achieving Students, and General Achievements in Mathematics." Ghasemi co-authored the paper with Hansel Burley, chair of EP&L and a professor at Texas Tech, and Parviz Safadel, a research assistant librarian in the Texas Tech University Library.
"I would like to thank my co-authors and Texas Tech University for all their support," Ghasemi said. "Now I am even more motivated and passionate to continue my work in educational research and present Texas Tech University as an institute that makes a profound impact on educational research and practice."
Charity G. Embley, a doctoral candidate in C&I, and Crystal D. Rose, a doctoral student in C&I, each won SERA Deans' Awards for Exceptional Graduate Student Research.
The awards are presented to students from universities that choose to participate, and the respective dean of the college of education for each participating university sponsors the award.
Embley's paper was titled, "Rebounding From Intimate Partner Violence Through Self-Development and Education."
"I feel very blessed to have won this award for the third straight time," Embley said. "Coming to SERA for three years and being able to present my research has really steered my thinking towards pursuing an academic career in research and higher education teaching."
Rose's winning paper was titled, "Becoming Academically Literate, the Challenges and Successes of International Students in a Small Community College: A Pilot Study."
"I was thrilled to be honored by SERA for my research as a graduate student," Rose said. "This is the first time I have been the solo author for a conference presentation, so I was not expecting my name to be called. I look forward to continuing to refine my skills as a researcher."
SERA is a regional educational research association dedicated to furthering the advancement of research in education. SERA has an annual meeting each year for three days in which professionals share research findings and ideas in a conference setting. The most recent meeting ran from Feb. 6 to 8 in San Antonio.